Click here to read the original article. Haiti – Politics : Switzerland wants to return Duvalier funds but… Haiti Libre November 26th, 2016 According to Roberto Balzaretti, the Director of the Directorate of International Law of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, his country wants to return as soon as possible to Haiti, the confiscated money of the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier totaling +/- 7 millions of dollars. Director Balzaretti reminded reporters that the final decision in Switzerland on this case, which lasted several years, dates from 2013, when the Federal Court confirmed that it was legal to seize the money of the now deceased Duvalier. Explaining that “The Swiss Confederation wants to return the money to Haiti and has been in contact with the Haitian authorities and the successive presidents… there is a general memorandum with Haiti […]

By Jacqueline Charles, The Miami Herald Thu, Apr. 11, 2013 The unresolved demons in Michèle Montas’ life underscore how even the influential in Haiti can’t push the levers of a justice system that’s badly in need of reform. Forced into exile by the Duvalier dictatorship — only to return to Haiti, and be forced out again by an assassin’s bullet — Montas today finds herself at the center of two epic legal cases winding at snail-pace through the judicial system. In one courtroom, an investigative judge is trying to determine who ordered the assassination of her husband, agronomist-turned-famous journalist Jean Léopold Dominique and a guard in the courtyard of his Radio Haiti-Inter 13 years ago this month. In another, a three-judge appeals panel is determining whether former President-for-Life Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, 61, should stand trial on human rights abuses […]

Human Rights Watch Feb 19, 2013 (New York, February 19, 2013) – Reed Brody, senior counsel at Human Rights Watch, will be in Haiti beginning February 20, 2013, to attend the Court of Appeal hearing in the case of former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. On February 21, the court will hear an appeal by victims from the January 2012 ruling by an investigating judge that Duvalier could not be prosecuted for alleged human rights crimes committed during his rule, from 1971 to 1986, because the statute of limitations had expired. Duvalier, who has been ordered to attend the February 21 hearing in person, is also appealing the lower-court judge’s ruling that he can be prosecuted for alleged embezzlement and other financial crimes. “Haiti has a binding legal obligation to investigate and prosecute the grave violations of human rights under Duvalier’s rule, and […]

Jane Regan and Milo Milfort, The Final Call March 19, 2013 PORT-AU-PRINCE (IPS)—For the first time ever, Haiti’s former dictator recently faced his accusers, answering questions about corruption and human rights abuses during his brutal 15-year regime (1971-1986). The court of appeals hearing was part of a process that will determine if he is to be indicted on rights abuses. “We think that this is a wonderful day for justice in Haiti,” rights attorney Nicole Phillips of the Washington-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), told IPS. “For the first time…and despite the efforts of his attorneys, Jean-Claude Duvalier came to court.” The ex-dictator showed up on Feb. 28 only after first disregarding three previous orders. The sweltering courtroom was packed with over a dozen victims of the regime and with local and foreign journalists, lawyers and representatives of […]